Saturday, March 28, 2009

RED ALERT: ACORN and the Obama Youth Corps

The "Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act" (or GIVE Act), purports to expand the spirit of volunteerism in America. It is, instead, an insidious mechanism that uses taxpayer funds to build a uniformed cadre of paid ACORN "volunteers" who will be solely focused on re-electing Barack Obama in 2012.

It passed the House days ago and its Senate counterpart (the ill-named "Serve America Act") passed on Thursday. The two acts will be reconciled by the House next week and likely signed into law immediately thereafter.

It is a crime and an outrage.

Criminal: $5.7 Billion for the Obama Youth Corps is destined for ACORN

This means that ACORN, which stands accused of massive voter registration fraud by its own former employees, will probably receive billions more in taxpayer money. Remember that ACORN is a nakedly partisan and accused criminal operation that has allegedly co-opted more elections than any group in history.

The proposed amendment, offered by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), would simply have prevented charitable groups with political arms from receiving funding under the GIVE Act. Vitter noted that, "...At the heart of this debate is whether this new federal bureaucracy would, in effect, politicize charitable activity around the country, which we certainly do not want."

Untrue. Democrats want it.

This is criminal: Most of the $5.7 billion is likely to find its way into ACORN's coffers and then help directly fund Democrats and more government expansion.

GIVE creates a "National Civilian Community Corps" and establishes a "Permanent Cadre" which will "give consideration to retired, discharged, and other inactive members and former members of the Armed Forces."

Furthermore, "The Director shall give priority to projects utilizing retired military and emergency professionals for programs to improve public safety, emergency and disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery, search and rescue, and homeland security efforts."

Specifically mentioned are programs "that strengthen community efforts in support of homeland security"; in other words, ACORN. Thus, both the House and Senate bills are designed to funnel money to a semi-militarized wing of the Democrat Party. ACORN appears to be at the center of this wing.

The terminology in the original bill -- "camps" and "superintendents" -- was replaced to avoid scrutiny. The terms used now are "campuses" and "campus directors".

Furthermore, groups like ACORN and "Organizing for America" appear to be detachable from the Democrat Party. They can be seen as cults of personality, unlike any mainstream political organization ever seen in the United States. They are loyal to a man, not a party. Their activities advance the agenda of the man, not the country.

There is even a provision in the bill for uniforms

Mandatory Education Camps: Section 6104 of the bill, entitled “Duties,” states that a commission will be set up to investigate whether "a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.”

Mandatory Secondary School Education: Section 120 of the bill also discusses the “Youth Engagement Zone Program” and states that “service learning” will be "a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency."

Larry Anderson observes, "There appears to be little volunteerism and almost no education in the bill. But there are a lot of make-work government jobs for doing God only knows what."

While on duty for the Civilian Community Corps, members will be provided with the following benefits:

(1) Allowances for travel expenses, personal expenses, and other expenses.(2) Quarters.(3) Subsistence.(4) Transportation.(5) Equipment.(6) Clothing.(7) Recreational services and supplies.(8) Other services determined by the Director to be consistent with the purposes of the Program.

That reads more like a "civilian national security force" and not a voluntary program for cleaning up neighborhoods.